Dante Carr: ‘Music saves people. I want them to be able to relate’

Junior Creative Editor

Nineteen year old Dante Carr found a reason to live through playing music.

“Music saves people. I want them to be able to relate,” said Carr.

He turned to music around middle school to help with personal turmoil. “I got picked on. I was called ugly, gay, I smelled, all that bullshit,” he said.

After going through a great deal of stress in his eighth grade year, Carr started having suicidal thoughts.  “I attempted suicide,” said Carr. “I was confused because in seventh grade I was picked on and bullied.”

The discovery of musicians like Escape the Fate, a post-hardcore band helped to take his mind off the bullying he endured. Carr would walk down the halls of his middle school listening to their music to ignore the bullying. “Listening to My Chemical Romance, Mayday Parade and Escape The Fate helped me realize life is worth living,” said Carr.

This emotional time in Carr’s life made him realize that there were better things in store for him, and that better thing was music. “You see bands like that, and you just want to be them,” said Carr. Music influenced Carr to become stronger, and even become an influence for other people.

“I was walking home one day and I realized, I want to make music to help people,” said Carr. “I want to be there in life to help people, and I want to save them. That’s just me.”

As influential as music has been in his own life, Carr wants to make his own music to help influence people the same way. “Music can help people a lot, and it’s a big influence. I want to be a big influence,” said Carr.

Carr started picking up guitar in eleventh grade, after the formation of his first band, Under the Covers, which consisted of only two people. They soon decided to expand by adding two more members and changed their name to Destroy the Ark.

After a year and a half of playing and delving into the local music scene, Carr had his first ever performance at the Battle of the Bands at Lansingburgh High School at age 17. “I started to get into more technical music playing after that,” said Carr.

Now playing guitar for two and a half years, Carr is looking for more challenging types of music to play, like songs in the metal genre as opposed to songs with typical four chord progressions. “I don’t want people to see me as an outcast,” said Carr. “I want them to know that I’m working on making songs that attract people, and get them to actually feel what I feel.”

Carr hopes to improve the lives of those who will one day listen to his current band, No Words to Give. “If people are having a really bad day, they can come up to me and ask for a song,” he said. “I don’t want them to be afraid to ask. I’ll play them a song.“